Thursday, January 26, 2012

02/08-02/22 Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention

---PRESS RELEASE----

Book Launch Event:

The Land, Sea, and Air Tour

Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention

BY PAUL GUINAN AND ANINA BENNETT

Before Jules Verne’s flying machines and H. G. Wells’s spaceships,
there was Frank Reade, globe-trotting inventor and original steampunk
hero. Starting in the nineteenth century, Frank Reade magazines were the
world’s first science fiction periodicals. Now Frank Reade and his
progeny are back in a new book: Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention! To celebrate the launch of this stunningly designed book, authors Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett—of Boilerplate fame—are hosting a series of events that any Reade family member would be proud to attend.

The events will be held on three consecutive Wednesdays in February,
at three Portland comic book stores. Each will have a different
theme—Land, Sea, and Air—the three realms Frank Reade explores in his
electric vehicles. The authors will also display each of the three model
vehicles Guinan himself built for the Frank Reade book, which are
rarely shown in public. Attendees will have the chance to talk with the
authors and get books signed, as well as meet local steampunks (Land),
pirates (Sea), and superheroes (Air).

BONUS: There’s a prize at the grand finale event! The first
ten attendees who make it to all three events and get their “Land, Sea,
and Air” passports stamped will receive a print of an original Frank Reade engraving
signed by both authors, plus custom-stamped Frank Reade chocolate “gold
coins” (which will also be available for purchase).

Publishers Weekly predicts Frank Reade will “satisfy even
the hardest to please of readers” and praises it as “a stunning
multimedia confection of the highest order that creates a detailed and
delightful world.”

About the Authors:

Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett have been collaborating as storytellers
since 1989, on works such as their Eisner Award–nominated science
fiction comic book series Heartbreakers and their critically acclaimed book Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel. They live in Portland, Oregon.